24 YEARS IN THE SERVICE OF ROMANIAN HERITAGE AND COMMUNITIES
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The horizontal lines in modernist architectural language refer to the speed of the car or the ships, technical evolutions that influenced many of the avant-garde manifestos of the early twentieth century. Consequently, the facade decorations become minimal.
In this photo, a plaster with rough and smooth surfaces, with subtle play of shadow and light, has the role of highlighting even more these horizontal aerodynamic lines that are reminiscent of the car or ship shapes and their speed.
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Details from the project “Forgotten Textures – Inter-war Bucharest”, a Pro Patrimonio Foundation cultural project carried out in the fall of 2019 which resulted in the guide Forgotten Textures: Inter-war Bucharest. Plaster recipe book. Author: Ruxandra Sacaliş.
The buildings’ plaster bases are always the delight of a historic street in Bucharest. And because they are at the eye level of any passer-by, you can’t help but notice them. This is an example of a base that makes us think of the sea, made of stone-like plaster with a rough and smooth texture in the form of waves, pigmented with red.
With a small drop of mica added to the plaster mass, you can get brilliant effects in the sun. And the interwar period did not shy away from being bold. If you look up, you can see this slightly rough plaster with discreet shine, called ”terasit”, on many of Bucharest’s modernist buildings.
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Details from the project “Forgotten Textures – Inter-war Bucharest”, a Pro Patrimonio Foundation cultural project carried out in the fall of 2019 which resulted in the guide Forgotten Textures: Inter-war Bucharest. Plaster recipe book. Author: Ruxandra Sacaliş.
Plasters have the primary role of protecting masonry against the weather. And in the interwar period, they became an opportunity for artistic expression that gave the buildings a special character. In addition to the diversity of materials used to make plasters (cement, lime, sand, marble, mica), in the interwar period, their treatment has seen countless variants of visual expression that today form much of the urban landscape in Bucharest.
Rough, smooth, scratched, brushed, chipped, in horizontal layers or with bright reflections, they all highlight the building volumes, the play of light and shadow on the facade and invite us to experience an emotional experience of the city.
We want to rediscover and inventory this important element of inter-war heritage in order to better understand and appreciate it and to be able to further protect it correctly in restoration projects.
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Details from the project “Forgotten Textures – Inter-war Bucharest”, a Pro Patrimonio Foundation cultural project carried out in the fall of 2019 which resulted in the guide Forgotten Textures: Inter-war Bucharest. Plaster recipe book. Author: Ruxandra Sacaliş.
In June 2020, the Bucharest City Hall put up for public debate their intention phase of elaborating a local urban plan “Construction of the multifunctional complex Știrbei Palace, 107 Calea Victoriei”. The project provoked reactions from civil society due to many issues that seriously affect the quality of the built environment, the protected area and the heritage building.
The main observations made by the Pro Patrimonio Foundation are: the new proposal seriously affects the symbolic image of Știrbei Palace, the PUZ eliminates the historical gardens in front and behind the palace. It has been requested that the proposal be corrected to take into account the following:
Unfortunately, the planner responded to these comments by confirming his intention not to take any of the comments into account. As proof, the consultation notice for the drafting and approval part of the project was launched on September 8th.
the article published by architect Dan Marin “Știrbei Palace Garden or restoration as a mystification of history” on the Contributors website from 8/21/2020.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
In the context of the recent demolition of the building from 22 Frédéric Joliot-Curie Street, Protected built area no. 45 Cotroceni, Pro Patrimonio Foundation sent an open letter addressed to the Minister of Culture, Mr. Bogdan Gheorghiu, and a press release on 7/9/2020.
The signatories of this letter consider it imperative to link legislation, procedures for approval, authorization and control to good European practices for the preservation, restoration and enhancement of evidence of national cultural identity.
Built heritage is a renewable resource. We strongly believe that its in a critical serious nowadays moving quickly towards destruction.
Protected built areas are constantly attacked through the demolition or mutilation of valuable buildings, as well as by new constructions, foreign to the local specificity.
Preserving and valuing heritage is a “long-term investment” which – as international experience has shown – is largely involved in a country’s development.
This letter was signed by 170 personalities, institutions and organizations.
We invite you to join us in signing the Petition to Save Our Heritage.
Bucharest, March 9, 2021
For the year 2021 Pro Patrimonio Foundation and UiPath Foundation announce their actions to continue the program “The Children’s Academy for Music and Education” carried out in the communities around the George Enescu House in Mihăileni, a historical monument in Botoşani County, as well as the initiation of a new project, “The Experimental Center for Studies and Education – Neamţu Manor, Olari”- historical monument in Olt County.
The educational program dedicated to the children’s community in Mihăileni and surrounding areas scheduled to begin in February 2020, has been adapted along the way, influenced by national and regional restrictions caused by the pandemic. Thus, some of the activities took place in July – September 2020. The George Enescu House in Mihăileni was inaugurated on August 19, 2020 with a piano concert, in the context of nine days of non-formal education workshops attended by 20 children from Mihăileni.
24 children from Mihăileni and Vârfu Câmpului localities follow their passion for music within the program “The Children’s Academy for Music and Education” (CAME). In October 2020, the children received musical instruments – blockflöte – and began the lessons in the study of the instrument and musical culture. More than 600 hours of music education took place both in the yard of the George Enescu House and online, depending on the weather. The program continues throughout 2021.
The year 2020 also marked the partnership between UiPath Foundation and Pro Patrimonio Foundation in the implementation of the educational program “Future Acceleration Program” in Botosani County. Through this program, 20 children from vulnerable families from three communities around the George Enescu House benefit from integrated support designed to ensure their access to education: monthly scholarships, clothing, school supplies, sanitary articles, tablets, and online educational activities. In September 2020, all children participated in the UiPath Foundation Virtual Camp – an interactive educational camp, with workshops on various topics: programming (Scratch), STEM, architecture, photo editing, drawing, sports and healthy lifestyle. Since October 2020, children from Botoșani County have participated in approximately 800 hours of tutoring lessons in Romanian language and literature, Mathematics and English.
The children in both programs also benefited from over 500 hours of non-formal education activities – practical workshops and online camps – not only to bring them closer to the history and culture of the place they come from, but also to encourage them to discover the potential and explore the world we live in.
In parallel with the activities in Botoşani, in 2021 the partnership between the two organizations will be extended in Olt County, in the communities around the Neamţu Manor in Olari. Thus, non-formal education workshops will be organized for children from Olari, within the project “Experimental Center for Studies and Education – Neamţu Manor, Olari” and the work site for the mansion restoration that was interrupted last year will be resumed.
“We’ve managed to overcome the difficulties encountered. The action that was started last year has overcome the difficulties caused by the pandemic. The solutions were verified over time, satisfied the wishes of the foundation and delighted the beneficiaries, the children in the community. Due to the good results on both sides, through a judicious analysis, a new intervention is being started in another area, with problems specific to southern Romania, such as the one in Olari. We start from the micro-geographical and socio-cultural irradiation area of the monument and extend the strategy to the macro-exploration and rediscovery of the territory. We try to rebuild territories, to coagulate communities, to map their resources, to experiment responsibly. We have adapted and we are moving forward in the two communities with specific approaches to each one.” said Serban Sturdza, President of the Pro Patrimonio Foundation.
“The last year has significantly affected access to quality education for children from disadvantaged families and the integrated support offered by the Future Acceleration Program has made a real difference in the lives of children in Botosani County, as well as in the other four areas of the country where we work with partners such as the Pro Patrimonio Foundation. With the limitations generated by the pandemic, the development and consolidation of innovative educational hubs in the heart of rural communities offers a real chance for a better future for children from vulnerable backgrounds. We are happy to contribute through this partnership with the Pro Patrimonio Foundation to the development of sustainable educational ecosystems in Botoșani County and, this year, in Olt County, in the communities around the Neamțu Manor in Olari. ” Raluca Negulescu-Balaci, Executive Director of UiPath Foundation.
March 05, 2021
Last year in October 24 children from Mihăileni and Vârfu Câmpului localities in Botoşani county, received musical instruments – blockflöte – and began lessons in the study of this instrument and in musical culture. The 600 hours of music education in 2020 took place in the yard of George Enescu’s House, when the weather was favorable, and afterwards they took place online.
The program initiated and developed by the Pro Patrimonio Foundation in partnership with the UiPath Foundation is entitled “The Children’s Academy of Music and Education”. As a music education program, complementary to the school one, dedicated to children from secondary schools around the George Enescu House in Mihăileni, it helps children develop their interest in current school activities and, in this way, to enrich their cultural knowledge. Music culture develops creativity, logical thinking, structures critical thinking and develops the artistic sensitivity of young people in training. In addition, music coagulates communities, helps preserve local identity and complements a correct perception of heritage. In an area with an instrumental and vocal tradition still present, but with a high risk of social vulnerability, such as the Botoşani – Dorohoi area, music strengthens the feeling of belonging to the community, a very important element for restoring social cohesion.
Mrs. Paula Gavriluţă is the music teacher who helps the children descipher the blockflöte scores whilst also teaching them things about a much needed musical culture. During the year dedicated to Beethoven, the emphasis was on deciphering excerpts from the Ninth Symphony, and around December they learned about Anton Pann’s patriotic song as well as about the great composer George Enescu, who sang to the wounded or organized charity concerts. With the help of interactive online games, children learn to recognize musical instruments and through musical audition they put the musical phrases in order according to their intensity and according to the instruments that appear in the orchestra.
At the beginning of 2021, the group of children in the music program received new scores and continues to develop their skills in using the instrument.
The program continues throughout 2021 in partnership with the UiPath Foundation.
George Enescu’s house in Mihăileni was again filled with sounds, happines and children at the end of October 2020 when “The Childrens’ Academy for Music and Education”, the music program developed by the Pro Patrimono Foundation in partnership with UiPath Foundation, debuted in several small series.
24 children received individual musical instruments and continue the program through weekly work. They are guided by Mrs. Paula Gavriluţă, a teacher in the community. The children experienced the sound of blockflots for the first time and had fun with the rhythms of the boomwhakers.
The In-Herit project, initiated by the National Heritage Institute, runs place 2020 and 2021 within the RO-Culture program with the support of the SEE Grants 2014-2021. The Pro Patrimonio Foundation, project partner, is responsible for creating the online application Salva-Monument, an integral part of the general online platform.
The web application will address the owners of historic buildings, specialists and the general public so that they can be informed about the practical and constructive ways of maintaining, conserving and capitalizing on heritage. An important component of the guide will be the presentation of practical issues regarding approval, documentation, economic or funding issues that may arrise.
All these themes will be presented in a format as accessible as possible, in formulas of expression as simple as possible accompanied by suggestive graphic images. The Salva-Monument Guide will be a content aggregator for heritage.
Motivation
Romania’s built heritage has been deteriorating, especially in the past 30 years, at a much faster pace than the owners’ ability to rehabilitate, maintain and use them. Society at large is poorly educated and informed about the ways of rehabilitation and maintenance, but also about the possibilities of capitalization of buildings and heritage complexes. However, more and more citizens are looking for information and tools to help them understand how heritage can be activated and revitalized in the context of insufficient collaboration and communication with public administration.
The Pro Patrimonio Foundation aims to create an interactive online platform – the Salva-Monument Guide – which will be integrated into the comprehensive program “In-Herit: National Center for Heritage Information and Promotion” developed by the National Heritage Institute.
The guide will be a support for the owners of historic buildings, specialists, the general public by which they can find practical and constructive ways of maintaining, conserving and capitalizing on heritage – both a cultural resource and an economic resource. The digital platform will also provide a link between citizens and specialists, from various fields – architecture, legal, economic, etc.
We aim to provide active free support for as many common situations as possible in which different categories find themselves in. The foundation receives an average of 10 questions per month on how to save, intervene, finance a historic building. The demands are diverse, but are based on poor public education and an acute lack of public information. In most cases, questions and requests reach the Foundation because public institutions answer vaguely or not at all. Interested citizens do not have at their disposal a simple document from which they can understand what the steps, the response times, the competent authorities and the laws are, as well as how to complete the applications and to whom should they be addressed.
The Salva-Monument guide will address:
In order to build this Guide as representative as possible, we set out to conduct a public consultation through a survey so that we can address as wide a range of possible situations and questions as possible from the public.
The survey in Romanian language only and is open to the public until March 3, 2021
http://bit.ly/SONDAJ-SALVA-MONUMENT
After all the studies we talked about earlier, the next step is to obtain the authorization to carry out the intervention works (a building permit). The procedure has several stages: a local planning certificate is requested from the local town hall, indicating what is permitted according to the local regulations and what other authorities must analyse in advance (mandatory bills) the project before issuing the permit. In the case of works on historic buildings (monuments) the views of the Directorate for County Culture and the State Inspectorate for Construction are mandatory.
The divisions responsible for culture evaluate (in theory) the way in which, through the project, the heritage value of the building is preserved and may request modifications of the solution so as to ensure a quality intervention in compliance with the principles of heritage protection. The culture divisions consult with the Regional Monuments Commission, composed of specialists in the field, for these approvals in order to issue relevant points of view. Unfortunately, in practice, more and more often, these opinions are conditioned by various interests, divergent from those of heritage conservation and enhancement. The project presented to the Directorate for Culture and implicitly to the Regional Commission contains the preliminary studies and the proposed architectural solution in which all the intervention works, repairs and possibly additions, modifications with the related justifications are made explicit.
